02/05/2016 World News Today


02/05/2016

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Hello and welcome to BBC World News Today.

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Scientists reveal a breakthrough in understanding breast cancer.

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An almost perfect picture of the genetic mutations that

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lead to the disease, which could mean fresh

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We should all be very optimistic, because we have more

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opportunities now for thinking about new therapeutics than we've

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ever had in the past and we know how to do it.

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Russia and the US urge all parties in Syria to observe a ceasefire

:00:33.:00:36.

as violence in Aleppo threatens the total collapse

:00:37.:00:38.

Astronomers discover three planets close to our solar system

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The Russian MP who feels his country's musical

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traditions are under threat - from the Eurovision Song Contest.

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It's been described as a hugely significant moment

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which could help unlock new ways of treating and preventing

:01:17.:01:20.

An international team of scientists has completed the largest-ever

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genetic study of the disease, which they say gives them

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a near complete picture of what causes breast cancer.

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The study, which has just been published in Nature,

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unpicked practically all the errors that cause healthy breast tissue

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The team sequenced the whole genome of more

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than 500 patients with breast cancer.

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The scientists then looked at all three billion letters

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of their genetic code - their entire blueprint of life.

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They uncovered 93 sets of instructions, or genes,

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Researchers say the information could help develop new drugs.

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Our health correspondent, Dominic Hughes, has more.

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Enjoying a spot of Bank Holiday Monday gardening,

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Vanessa Babbage looks the picture of health.

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But Vanessa has fought a long, arduous battle

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After extensive surgery, chemo and radiotherapy,

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she knows how devastating the disease and its treatment can be.

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It's actually worse than the cancer itself,

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because you are constantly ill, so they do try to help you to

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minimise the side-effects by giving you other drugs to help the nausea

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and things like that, so the treatment is very, very harsh.

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Scanners like this one are used to detect and monitor cancerous tumours

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once they've already developed, but to understand the underlying

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causes of cancer, scientists have had to go much deeper,

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to the level of DNA, to try and work out what happens

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An international team of scientists, led by the Sanger Institute

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in Cambridge, examined all three billion letters

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What they've found has transformed the understanding of what happens

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Getting a comprehensive collection of information, including the

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mutations that are causing cancer, tells us something about why that

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cancer is going wrong, why that cell is turning

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into a cancerous cell, and if you can understand that,

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you can understand the causes of the cancer, and then you can

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This opens up the possibility of much greater individualised

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treatments for cancer, targeting each of the mutations.

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That's already happening with some treatments, like the drug

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Herceptin, but experts believe this could be a big step forward.

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What this study might achieve is finding

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better treatments, matching them better to women.

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By understanding the causes that underline the biology

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of different types of the disease, we might be able to match better

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treatments and offer them things that are more likely

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Back at home, Vanessa Babbage is moving on with her life after

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cancer, and she is optimistic that science is starting to make real

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headway in the fight against the disease.

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It gives people hope, because when people are affected

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by someone that they love and they have breast cancer,

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they hope for a better future for other women that are going to be

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This research has transformed the understanding of cancer,

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and offers the tantalising prospect it could prevent the disease

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Dominic Hughes joins me now from our studio in Manchester.

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It sounds as though this was a very complex piece of research.

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Her very significant study, the largest of its kind looking at those

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560 different patients who are all experienced breast cancer, decoding

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more than 3 billion bits of DNA across those 560 patients. It is

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significant as well because that DMA is a record of what happens to us

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throughout our lives, from the moment we start life as a tiny

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fertilised egg in our mothers with breakthrough to adult food through

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the course of life. Records all the damage we sustain both from the

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environment and infections and from that the scientists are able to

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glean some clues about what underlies the cancerous tumours that

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some that they are susceptible to. This is being hailed

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as a big breakthrough. How much progress in the fight

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against cancer have It is interesting when you think it

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wasn't that long ago that breast cancer was seen as a one disease.

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Now we know which there are many different types of breast cancer,

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and this kind of sequencing of DNA is really seen as a very big step

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forward in trying to unravel some of the mysteries that lie at the heart

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of cancer. Why do some tissues turn from healthy to cancerous tissue?

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What we have seen today is a big step forward, and the key thing they

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are talking about is trying to does decimate lead to a breakthrough in

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individualised treatments. Instead of treating people as though they

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have one disease, breast cancer, they can say this is at a particular

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type of breast cancer, and also it may tell scientists how someone

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might respond to a particular treatment, so it opens up all sorts

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of possibilities. Dominick, thank you very much.

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Astronomers have announced the discovery of three planets

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relatively close to our solar system which could be able to sustain life.

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The three orbit an ultra-cool dwarf star 39 light-years away

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and are comparable in size and probably also temperature

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Dr Michael Gillon is an astronomer from the University

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He led the team of researchers who discovered the planets

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Tell us a little more about what you found. Hello. We have discovered

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three planets orbiting a nearby star, which is extremely small, the

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size of Jupiter. These planets are very interesting because they are

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irradiated at the same level, more or less, as Venus, Earth and Mars.

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This means they could tap water and maybe life. Furthermore what is

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interesting is they are well-suited for detailed study of the

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atmospheric composition with existing technology, telescopes that

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are about to began operating. This means we can really study this

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planet and even detect life on these planets right now. So we could do

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this remotely? Yes, indeed. Just by using telescopes and by working at

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the atmospheric composition -- looking at the atmospheric

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composition of the solar system. The atmosphere would block the light of

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the start, and this effect will depend on the composition of the

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atmosphere. We know they are 39 light-years away, which sounds like

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an awfully long distance, but an Astra and call times for scientists

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like you that is close. -- in astronomical terms. Yes, very close.

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The Milky Way is a big disc of 300 billion stars, and this one is among

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the 1000 most nearby stars, saw it really is a star in the

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neighbourhood of the sun. How does that help understand our universe if

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we can find out more about these particular planets' make up? What

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does it do for us? It could help us to understand how unique is our

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terrestrial planets, especially our planet, and how unique is life in

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the universe, which is a very important question to answer.

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Further more it helps us understand other environments, because these

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planets even if they are like the Earth in terms of size and

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radiation, should be like the Earth, -- deference to the Earth, because

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there are stories different to the sun. It is all part of a very

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ambitious project. Yes, this research was obtained with a

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prototype telescope that we have in Chile. It is a prototype for a

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bigger project about to start, which will explore the nearest star is for

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which we could have temperatures of planets which are well-suited for

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detailed studies. And to catalogue planets like Earth in which we could

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detect life in the next decade. Thank you very much. We wish you

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luck with your project. US Secretary of State John Kerry

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says foreign powers are "getting closer to a place of understanding"

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at talks in Geneva - trying There's been a two month pause

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in hostilities, but the last ten days have seen

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an upsurge of violence. Mr Kerry said a renewed

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ceasefire must include the besieged city of Aleppo,

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where more than 250 civilians have Our correspondent Barbara

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Plett-Usher has been travelling War has returned to Syria's

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largest city after two The air strikes on a hospital last

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week thrust the carnage back into the spotlight,

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but hundreds of civilians have been killed in the past

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ten days of fighting. The Syrian military says

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it is targeting Jihadists, But the lines between such groups

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and other rebels in Aleppo If the cease-fire breaks down here,

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it may crumble across the country. The crisis triggered

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emergency meetings in Geneva, the city that's been hosting

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Syrian peace talks. America's top diplomat came

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here to try to salvage the truce. We are engaged in an effort

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with all of the members of the International

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Syria Support Group, and with Russia particularly,

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in an effort to restore that cessation of hostilities in those

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places where it has been most There is no excuse for not finding,

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again, a reinvigorating and reinstalling and re-implementing

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what has been the only strong message the Syrian people have

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heard from all of us. Mr Kerry is urging Moscow

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to push its Syrian ally to stop But the most he announced

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was a joint agreement to strengthen the monitoring

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and implementation of the truce. So they are wrestling with a formula

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to bring quiet back to Aleppo. There will be intensive talks

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involving the Russians Mr Kerry said there should soon be

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greater clarity about the details of But the bigger question

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is whether Damascus and Moscow are serious

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about the UN path to peace, or whether they are using it to make

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military gains on the ground. Barbara Plett-Usher,

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BBC News, Geneva. Leading Iraqi members of parliament

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have called on Prime Minister MPs are demanding the creation

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of a new Government, excluding the political party

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of the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who they blame for ordering

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anti-government protesters to storm Our correspondent Ahmed Maher has

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had special access to the main hall of the Iraqi parliament

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and sends this report. We are in the main hall

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of the Iraqi parliament, the centre of the unprecedented

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political crisis. This parliament descended into chaos

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after anti-government protesters stormed this hall

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and ransacked its furniture. They damaged headphones, speaker

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devices, and scattered documents, This place is one of the main

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symbols of power and authority in Iraq, and that's why

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the anti-government protesters chose it to send a strong message

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to the MPs who used to be seated here in this session

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that they are fed up, angry, at their failure to choose

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the long-awaited cabinet of technocrats

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or non-partisan ministers. They are aiming at pressuring

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the embattled government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi

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into enacting the promised reforms, That was our correspondent

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Ahmed Maher reporting from A British company has apologised

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for selling a cleaning product that led to a number of deaths

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in South Korea. About 100 people died

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after inhaling toxic fumes from liquids used to clean

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humidifiers, although only some of those deaths are linked

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to the British company. At an emotional news conference

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in Seoul, an executive At one point, a man jumped

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on stage and slapped him The health risks from

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the disinfectants were first discovered in 2011 after several

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pregnant women died Later that year, authorities said

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the chemicals PHMG and PGH in the disinfectants used to cleanse

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humidifiers were to blame. Nearly all households in South Korea

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use a humidifier Reckitt Benckiser sold millions

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of bottles of liquid disinfectant, called Oxy Ssak Ssak,

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containing the harmful chemicals It's among several firms

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whose products are blamed For five years the

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company had refused Reckitt Benckiser now says

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it'll come up with a plan It's also setting up a multi-million

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dollar humanitarian fund An Australian computer scientist has

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ended years of speculation, saying he is the creator

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of the controversial Dr Craig Wright, who lives

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in London, showed the BBC evidence that he launched the currency,

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back in 2009, using a pseudonym. Dr Wright is believed to hold

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hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoins,

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which are a virtual currency transferred via the internet,

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and which can be exchanged This report from our technology

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correspondent Rory Cellan Jones. In an office in London,

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a mystery that has been an Internet obsession for seven years

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is about to be solved. So you are going to show me that

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Satoshi Nakamoto is you? If that's true, then

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Craig Wright is the reason Bitcoin is a currency invented

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on the Internet and designed to operate outside the control

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of any central bank. Its value and its reputation - it's

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being widely used by criminals - And there is a chain of Bitcoin cash

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machines called SatoshiPoints. It was back in 2008 that someone

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calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper on the Internet

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describing a plan for Bitcoin. It was the following the year

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that he released the software Ever since, Satoshi's precise

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identity has been a mystery. But there have been

:16:54.:16:59.

a number of false trails. In the search for Satoshi,

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a number of people, I think we will probably start

:17:06.:17:09.

with Dr Craig Wright... Last year, there was speculation

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about Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, here seen

:17:15.:17:18.

speaking at a Bitcoin convention. Now he's confirmed that he is

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Satoshi Nakamoto. Some people will believe,

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some people won't. To tell you the truth,

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I don't really care. You can say, hand on heart,

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to me, "I am Satoshi Nakamoto"? He showed us that he possessed

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the unique digital signature used by Nakamoto in the very first

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Bitcoin transaction. That is the first generated

:17:47.:17:50.

and transferred Bitcoin ever. That evidence has been shown

:17:51.:17:53.

to a Bitcoin expert who says Dr Wright's achievement

:17:54.:17:55.

can't be overstated. If Bitcoin is the separation

:17:56.:18:00.

of money and state, I put this achievement on the scale

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of the Gutenberg printing press, which was the beginning

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of the decline of the Vatican's power, once we could have

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mass printing of things. Last December, the Australian tax

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authorities searched He says they are auditing his

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businesses and don't He wouldn't tell us how wealthy

:18:25.:18:27.

the currency has made him, but made clear he didn't want to be

:18:28.:18:32.

a public figure. I don't want money, I don't want

:18:33.:18:34.

fame, I don't want adoration. I'm going to do this

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once and once only. I'm going to come in front

:18:38.:18:46.

of the camera once. And I will never, ever be

:18:47.:18:54.

on a camera ever again, for any TV station,

:18:55.:18:56.

or any media, ever. If he's to be believed

:18:57.:18:59.

he is a modern-day Midas, the man who conjured

:19:00.:19:01.

new money out of thin air. It's a remarkable achievement

:19:02.:19:04.

but having emerged from the shadows, Craig "Satoshi Nakamoto" Wright now

:19:05.:19:07.

wants to disappear once more. Dr Wright's claim has

:19:08.:19:12.

divided opinion online, with some observers casting doubt

:19:13.:19:20.

on whether he's provided enough proof that he is indeed

:19:21.:19:22.

the creator of Bitcoin. Users of the chat site

:19:23.:19:24.

Reddit have been pointing out in the method Mr Wright used,

:19:25.:19:27.

saying that the signature he used Technology journalist Lorenzo

:19:28.:19:31.

Franceschi-Bicchierai also questions in his demonstration and uses

:19:32.:19:37.

another one in private - "how does that make

:19:38.:19:42.

any sense?", he asks. points out that Gavin Andresen,

:19:43.:19:45.

chief scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation, has said he believes

:19:46.:19:49.

Mr Wright's claim is true. Now a look at some of

:19:50.:19:58.

the day's other news. The Republican presidential

:19:59.:20:07.

frontrunner Donald Trump has stepped up his criticism of Chinese trade

:20:08.:20:13.

policy. He said Beijing was conducting the greatest theft in the

:20:14.:20:14.

history of the world. The mosquito-borne Zika virus may

:20:15.:20:17.

be even more dangerous than previously thought,

:20:18.:20:19.

scientists in Brazil say. They told the BBC that Zika could be

:20:20.:20:21.

behind more damaging neurological conditions,

:20:22.:20:24.

affecting the babies of up to A solar-powered plane has

:20:25.:20:25.

taken off from California for the state of Arizona,

:20:26.:20:30.

the latest stage of its The 16-hour flight will take

:20:31.:20:32.

the Solar Impulse to Solar Impulse began its attempt

:20:33.:20:35.

to circumnavigate the globe in March last year in Abu Dhabi,

:20:36.:20:40.

but the flight was delayed by the need for lengthy repairs

:20:41.:20:43.

after its batteries overheated. It's that time of year again -

:20:44.:20:50.

next week, hundreds of millions of viewers around the world

:20:51.:20:53.

will tune in to watch the annual extravaganza

:20:54.:20:55.

that is the Eurovision Song Contest. But sequins and Euro pop are not

:20:56.:20:58.

to everyone's taste. In Russia, one MP is planning

:20:59.:21:00.

a rival contest with Our musical correspondent,

:21:01.:21:02.

Steve Rosenberg, reports Hang on, who feels threatened

:21:03.:21:05.

by that? Oleg Nilov is a Russian MP

:21:06.:21:35.

on a crooning crusade to promote He loves folk songs and loathes

:21:36.:21:42.

the Europop invading Russia. TRANSLATION: You don't need weapons

:21:43.:21:51.

to conquer a country, The minds of our young

:21:52.:21:55.

people are coming under the influence of TV,

:21:56.:21:59.

trying to impose Two years ago, when Eurovision

:22:00.:22:01.

was won by Conchita, the bearded lady, he was

:22:02.:22:14.

so shocked, he did this. He sings, "Black crow,

:22:15.:22:16.

why are you circling above us?" What the MP wants to hear

:22:17.:22:27.

is more music like this. He is planning a rival

:22:28.:22:32.

to Eurovision called Good Vision, where all the songs

:22:33.:22:38.

will be, well, good. TRANSLATION: The songs will be folk

:22:39.:22:47.

style, with national instruments I am sure this will get more viewers

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and be more useful. Mind you, not everyone here

:22:51.:22:55.

is out of tune with This year's Russian entrant believes

:22:56.:22:58.

Eurovision can promote I really like the main message

:22:59.:23:02.

that this Eurovision Because the music does

:23:03.:23:12.

not have any religion, But Oleg Nilov is sticking

:23:13.:23:17.

with what he knows best. With a chorus like that,

:23:18.:23:31.

perhaps he should enter Eurovision. A very different sound. Thousands of

:23:32.:24:02.

people gathered in commemoration of one of Africa's stars.

:24:03.:24:13.

Thousands gathered in front of Congo's National Assembly to try and

:24:14.:24:16.

catch a glimpse of what was going inside. One of the culture 's most

:24:17.:24:33.

beloved ambassadors. People sometimes think when you speak about

:24:34.:24:38.

Congolese music, it makes you dance, but no structure. The president

:24:39.:24:49.

himself honoured Papa Wemba with one of the highest national titles for

:24:50.:24:54.

his services to Congolese music and the world. Papa Wemba's body was

:24:55.:24:57.

carried out of the National Assembly at midday. Papa Wemba's body has

:24:58.:25:06.

been taken to his family home in this neighbourhood, it is a bustling

:25:07.:25:10.

place. There are thousands of people here including many highly

:25:11.:25:19.

fashionable ones. Papa Wemba was really the saviour of the Society of

:25:20.:25:23.

elegant people. Everywhere he went he promoted Congolese style. We have

:25:24.:25:32.

lost him today and it is a great sadness. The party will continue for

:25:33.:25:35.

most of today and tomorrow as the Congolese celebrate their hero. Papa

:25:36.:25:40.

Wemba, forever an icon and an inspiration you will be varied in

:25:41.:25:43.

the capital on Wednesday. Our main story - a team of

:25:44.:25:53.

scientists has completed the largest ever genetic study of breast cancer

:25:54.:25:59.

which they say gives a near complete picture of what

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Good evening. Better news for the week ahead,

:26:13.:26:13.

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